Using five museum collections,
teachers and pupils can find out more about
the fascinating subject of portraiture, including
how portraits were created, how to strike a
commanding pose, how to tell someone’s
status from their dress and the formal elements
that go into making someone’s likeness.

The Collections

This resource compares
portraits in the following five museum
collections:

VIEW
PORTRAITS allows teachers to examine portraits
in one or all of the five collections. It
provides information about the artist and
sitter, and suggests questions for discussion
about each portrait. It also includes downloadable
colour copies of each portrait for use in
class.

provide portraiture-related activities
for children to do in class, perhaps
after a visit to one of the museums,
or as part of their study of portraits.
It includes thought-provoking on-line
activities as well as those which can
be printed out and completed away from
the computer.

THEMES
addresses thematic topics relevant to discussions
of portraiture, such as 'Pose and Expression'
and 'Status and Dress' (for a full list please
click on the THEMES tab). It includes discussion
points and provides links to works of art
in the five collections which support each
theme.

The TIMELINE
shows all 39 portraits in chronological relation
to each other so as to set them in context.
Some of the founders of each contributing
museum collection are shown along with
the dates each museum first opened to
the public.